


Roses In A Teapot

by Dobbys_Sock_7812



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 04:00:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2010150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dobbys_Sock_7812/pseuds/Dobbys_Sock_7812
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nostalgia is a dangerous drug, it goes in hate and comes out love...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Final Goodbye.

**Author's Note:**

> Credit for the title and summary go to Ally Rhodes, writer and singer of this song:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHwhUJEMIuI  
> I also made Rose older so that she could attend Hogwarts with Teddy.

_October 20th 2033._

 

Both dreading, and being excited to see someone at the same time is a very strange thing to feel indeed. She had changed and re-changed her outfit more times than she could count for this one day and couldn’t resist the occasional dash to the airport bathroom to check her red curls and cherry lipstick were in place. It was some time before it occurred to her that he never used to care for appearances anyway, and in fact looked down upon those who did. It was not a case of forgetting; the mild OCD was merely an accumulation of nerves. 

An entire week she had spent dreading the worst, yet time had passed in lurches and blinks of an eye. Now however… Now all she wanted was for him to bloody arrive already, and yet the seconds turned sluggish. For the suspense that came with being mere moments away from a reunion was far worse than knowing there was time to prepare. The young girl was sure she wasn’t so far from a heart attack either; surely the force of its beating would break her chest apart? In the next few moments she contemplated leaving, running in the opposite direction, but sheer determination kept her in place. Whether this meeting would go well or horribly wrong, one thing was certain.

They needed this.

Trying to keep her eyes fixated on her coffee cup and not the mouth of the corridor where he would arrive, she sat with bated breath. 

_The 1:15 flight from Sydney has landed._

And a stream of people poured through the entrance. Later on she could say with absolute certainty that she felt his presence before she saw him.

The awkwardness was rife; it took him half a minute to even recognise her, and even she had to double take. But they found each other, and thus began a wonderful week.

It seemed there was some catching up to do. The content of the conversation was relatively mundane between the two people who had been separate for so long they no longer knew each other.

Do you still write?  
Do you still avoid people?  
Do you still have a death wish?  
Do you still think about me?

The last one was never said out loud, and after he left again for Australia at the end of the week it grew to be one of her great regrets, heightened by the sight of his retreating back and the feeling of his hand as it (accidentally?) brushed the side of her body. Yet the sad fact of the matter is that they were no longer children. They had lived in their separate worlds and grown into two different people as a consequence. She had become sensible (which upset him enormously) and he had gone off to see the world and explore and everything that she thought she had wanted at fifteen. Perhaps some part of her still did want it, or perhaps it was just the nostalgia that fell in little drops down her cheeks and caused her hands to quake.

She hated it. She had spent almost her whole childhood depending on him to be happy. She had moved on, and couldn't stand the thought of being back there, however wonderful it was to see him. That’s the thing, she mused later, about childhood sweethearts; they help to make up the past that clings to you, and whatever you might want, will not let go. She had a family now, and would not trade them for anything, but there was no denying what a big part of her life he had been. This meeting was silly and stupid and awkward and childish. Undeniably perfect. It brought back all of the adventurous spirit that she had quelled for the sake of staying sane while trapped in her little home town. It was entirely uplifting and so many other things that, despite her eloquence, she could not put into words. But whatever else these things are, they’re not good for you.

Neither was their kind of relationship. Both looking but on different days. Perfect on paper yet never quite working out for real. Perhaps this was why they never told anybody. Was it even a relationship? Certainly not what most would look upon as being so. All they really shared was a kind of mutual, yet unspoken agreement. Even they didn’t know what they were doing, so how could they possibly have told anyone else? 

Rose Weasley and Teddy Lupin.  
Teddy Lupin and Rose Weasley.

They were a package deal in their youth, nothing more or less in the eyes of everyone else. 

One thing however, that this “relationship” seemed to lack above all else was the closure it sorely needed. Neither of them ever quite knew if they were on the same page, and this week hadn’t changed a thing.

Once again, it was only after he left and it was too late that all the subtle complements and breezing touches began to make sense. She cursed herself for allowing this aspect of their old routine to return. She knew he still loved her after all this time and had loved her all those long years ago, and he… Well…

_She imagined he was another one who sort of knew all along._


	2. Cracks In The Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because they built their dreams on sand.

_August 4th 2021_

Weasley family reunions were loud and chaotic and drunken and delicious. All of the things Rose Weasley was not. 

She sat in the corner of Grandma Molly’s living room and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before pulling out a green, leather journal and beginning to write. The noise surrounding her was barely a hindrance, and looking through the congregation of relatives from her place on the hearth, Rose noticed her rather frightened-looking cousin Molly curled up beside the wireless and watching her two brothers wrestle on the floor. She too, could be rather quiet in nature, but she had inherited her Father’s unfortunate knack for knowing a lot about things no one cared about. So the two were never really friends per se. 

However shy, Rose was no stick in the mud. She knew that in a few hours, possibly less, she would be as loud as the rest of them, but she needed warmed up first, and she knew just the person to help her do that, so she sat and waited. 

The appearance of a pair of legs beside her caused Rose to look up and grin. Teddy offered her his hand.

“Whatcha writing?” he asked.

“Nothing for you to see,” was her response as she let him pull her to her feet, crimson waves bouncing around her porcelain face. 

“Too much of your Mother’s touchiness, that’s your problem kid,” 

Kid. How that used to irk her so. Instead of giving the snappy remark he was once so used to, she looked up at him to giggle but faltered at his appearance. His hair was the same turquoise colour that he’d grown so partial to, his lips were spread into his usual easy smile; but it was a smile that did not quite reach his silver eyes. She looked at him for a moment.

“What’s wr-?”

“Later.” He said bluntly. “For now. Drink with me?” 

Loud and chaotic and drunken—all of the things Rose Weasley was not… unless one Teddy Lupin had something to say about it.

Rose did allow herself a laugh this time as he pulled her through the dense crowd of Weasleys, hardly giving her time to stash the journal in her rucksack. Every single time she forgot just how many of them there were until a gathering such as this. She had also forgotten how fun Firewhiskey shots with Teddy were. In the few hours that followed the cluttered kitchen and smell of party food became a blur. 

“Happy graduation,” He slurred, raising a toast.

She laughed.

“My graduation party was two years ago, this is your going away party,”

_Going away._ It was a strange notion to consider him halfway across the globe.

“I think you should stop now.” Rose gently took the shot glass off him, and his smile faltered. 

“I know,” He sighed.

Thus far, Rose had been dreading the impending heavy conversation. Heavy was not good, they were not capable of heavy, especially when he was drunk. Now however, she felt that there was no more avoiding it.

“So… is it later?”

Teddy ran his right hand through his hair and sighed. He had been dreading this as much as she had, but who else could he tell? He had no shortage of family, but telling Rose first had always been much easier. Jumping down from the kitchen bench, Teddy turned away from the girl and exited through the back door. Barely a second passed before Rose followed suit. The cool night air was a welcome relief from the stuffy interior of the Burrow and the fireflies bathed the large, messy garden in a golden haze. At the very bottom of the rough, dirt path, almost entirely out of the view of the house, the two wizards came to a weeping willow tree. Its height would have been imposing but the way the branches drifted lazily in the night time, summer breeze was oddly calming. Upon sight, Rose’s face split into a wide grin, for near the top of the tree, set deep into the trunk and the branches, was a wooden box with a roof, and a door, and a window; filled with all the best memories from her childhood. 

_It was their tree house._

Teddy couldn’t help but grin at the sight of her smile, and with a flick of his wand, a silver ladder unfurled from the entryway and tumbled to their feet.

They took one look at each other and before either of them quite knew what was happening, they were fighting each other to get on the ladder first, their laughter echoing round the garden, just like when they were little. And just like when they were little, Teddy let her win, because he was older and it was his “obligation”, as he so referred to it, which she had always hated. The fort was exactly the way she remembered it. The oaken walls were bedecked with Weird Sisters posters, and the Gwenog Jones in her Hollyhead Harpies poster was still as irate after all these years, adorning a now slightly faded, fuzzy moustache, courtesy of Albus.

Rose perched herself on the edge of the floor, swinging her legs over the edge as Teddy reached the top of the ladder. 

“How are you feeling?” she asked eventually.

“Like I’m about eight years old,” he joked, surveying the inside of the fort with childlike happiness. 

The remark made her smile as well, which he was happy about because at least he had provided some sort of distraction. That was the point in all this, but despite all of his best efforts, there was no mistaking the seriousness behind her piercing blue eyes. Apparently the daughter of Hermione Granger was not so easily fooled. 

“Victoire asked me to move in with her,” he said quietly.

Rose squealed and jumped up to hug Teddy. It was a few moments later before she relinquished her hold and moved back to her original place, a broad smile on her features.

“That’s great, I knew you guys would make it! Tell me everything! What did you say?” she spoke at a million miles an hour in a voice quite unlike her own.

“I broke up with her,” he answered, his tone falsely indifferent.

“Aw that’s so— y-you what?” she spluttered, catching on a little too late as her insides filled with cold dread.

The silence was thick. Now Rose knew why he had come to her, and not Harry, not Ginny. Her stomach dropped. She knew what he was doing. He was running away, again. Biting her lip, Rose cast her mind back to around this time 3 years ago, when Teddy and Victoire kissed for the first time and she, a sixth year, had walked in on them. She remembered how she had felt then with an onslaught of bitterness, and compared it to how she felt now. It was quite amazing how much a person could change in such an insignificant amount of time. 

“And that’s why she’s not here,” she said eventually.

“She took it rather well actually; seemed to understand how important my trip was to me. I told her I was thinking about moving there. Oh please don’t look at me like that Rose, I came to you to avoid that. I thought you of all people would understand.” He took her hand and she cast her eyes downwards with a frown. “We wanted different things. It was too soon,”

“Was it?” she quipped coldly, but softened as she saw his face fall almost imperceptibly. She squeezed his hand. “You can’t keep doing this, Ted,”

“It’s what you would do,” he said in a low voice, watching the crease between her eyebrows become more pronounced as her look of anger faded to one of puzzlement.

He looked at her for a little while longer, taking in the adorable sampling of freckles on her nose and cheeks and fancying they were children again; or back to her early Hogwarts days where she would never have judged him so. The memory filled him with an inexplicable sadness. 

“It’s not me who’s in this position,” Rose countered, ever logical.

Teddy however, didn’t appear to be listening. He had a faraway look on his face and his eyes were focused on the petite figure of his Godmother making her way down the dirt trail. 

“Rose!” Ginny called up when she reached the foot of the tree. “Scorpius is here,”

Rose turned to say goodbye to Teddy for the time being, but he wasn’t looking at her, so feeling slightly cold, she disappeared over the edge of the tree house. Shaking her head sadly as Ginny threw a questioning look in Teddy’s direction, she made her way towards the house. At the door, she paused to turn back to the weeping willow, allowing herself some happiness at the sight of Ginny at the top of the tree, hugging her Godson. 

She had barely closed the door behind her to the kitchen when she was attacked by a mop of silvery blonde hair. 

“Go home dick, you’re drunk,” she laughed as Scorpius leaned down and planted a rather sloppy kiss on her cheek.

“Nope, just nervous,” he said slowly, laughter in his voice. 

Rose looked at him questioningly, arms still encircling his body. He just grinned again, looking around at the rather small kitchen which at the moment, housed the two of them, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Molly and Percy who sat at the table conversing, drinks in hand. Scorpious gulped, but was made slightly more at ease by the wink Ron threw in his direction. Still a tad unsure about what to do with himself, he began pacing.

“Ok, Rose… Rose, Rose, Rose. I have put a lot of thought into this, about how young we are, what this would mean, and what we might like to do with our lives. And I think… Well I know… That I have quite decided that whatever I might like to do with my life, I would like to do it with you.” 

He said the last part in one breath, and afterwards, stood there for a few moments. The door clicked and a few heads turned as Ginny and Teddy entered, the latter looking considerably happier. Ginny caught sight of Harry’s goofy grin and promptly squealed.

“Oh my god, she said yes?!” 

There was a loud bang as Ron’s head hit the table and three other exasperated looks were thrown in the direction of the redhead, who caught on pretty fast.

“I’ll just be over there then,” she said, hanging her head in shame and slinking over to the other side of the kitchen, the tips of her ears burning red.

Harry snorted. Rose however, was left confused.

“Well, I know it’s probably a bit obvious now, but I want to do it properly anyway. Rose Weasley,”

He dropped to one knee and pulled out a small, velvet box. The embedded diamond sparkled in the candlelight and she imagined how it would look on her finger.

“Will you marry me?”

A choking noise escaped from the back of her throat. No. No. NO. No. Absolutely not. The girl looked up, around the faces of her family. They all looked thrilled at the prospect; clearly expecting her to say yes. Then her blue eyes landed on Teddy, whose jaw was set and his stare cold.

“Of course!” she proclaimed, her voice slightly higher than usual as she leapt on Scorpious.

A few hours later, and Rose found herself, quite alone, in the exact same spot in Grandma Molly’s kitchen, Scorpius’ proposal running through her mind as she examined the beautiful diamond ring on her finger. She couldn’t do it. But how could she disappoint everybody by calling it off? The door opened quietly and Teddy entered with the same hard expression as earlier (Was his face stuck?), having already made his farewells. He closed the door behind him and cast the muffliato spell.

“I can’t do it Teddy. I can’t marry him. You were right, I’m just like you after all,” she bit back a sob.

Without saying a word, he pulled out a chair at the kitchen table for her and poured two glasses of Firewhiskey. He placed one in front of her and sat in the chair opposite. 

“Then don’t. No one will think any less of you,” 

The lack of tone and expression in his voice was somewhat disturbing and her heart made the familiar drop that came with it. Still, he was here, and therefore he cared.

“He will,” she said quietly.

“Why do you care?” he kept his eyes on the table, and then sighed before answering his own question. “Because you love him,”

“I don’t want to get married,”

“But you’re going to,” he remarked, now looking directly at her.

“Why are you so sure?” she almost failed to get the words out.

“Because I know you. I admit I struggle to keep up with you these days, but you’ve grown up Rose. You do want to, you’re just afraid. Maybe you’re just holding out for something better,”

“There is no better,” she quipped automatically, cutting him to pieces.

“I know,” he croaked. “Not for you. So how can you say you don’t want to marry him?” 

He was right of course, and with that comment she realised that this was exactly Teddy’s intention. Scorpious made her happy like she never knew she could be. There truly was no one better for her, so what, or who exactly was she waiting for? Rose looked at Teddy long and hard, fighting the rising lump in her throat. In appearance he might have changed in the long years since their childhood, but in personality he was exactly the same. A coward who did nothing but run and fight off those who loved him more than anything in the whole world. He hadn’t really changed. The same could not be said for her. And tonight in the tree house, Teddy had made a mistake in not realising that.

Rose didn’t realise she had been silent for so long until Teddy cleared his throat before saying very bluntly.

“Exactly,” 

Then he did something unexpected and moved his chair round beside her and rested his head on top of hers, pulling her into him.

“Since I won’t get to say it later I just want to tell you that… well… goodbye,” 

And with that, he kissed her forehead and left her in the kitchen where she fought the urge to cry her heart out. So that was it then. 

Rose took her time to recover, before entering the living room. Upon sight of her fiancé and his goofy, lopsided grin, she felt the happiness bubble up inside her and could not help but smile. Making her way over, she all but jumped on Scorpious as she threw her arms around him. This was the man she wanted to spend her life with, and all her previous doubts were easily vanished as he kissed her passionately. As the night wore on the two thoroughly enjoyed the reunion that, eight years later, they would attend with their first child. 

This was real love, not the dependency that had consumed her adolescence.


	3. The Next Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because, when it came to love, he was afraid of his own shadow.

_18th July 2019_

In contrast to most people, Rose Weasley loved change. By her reckoning the spontaneity of life was what kept it interesting; watching a lake freeze over with ice crystals and the leaves of a tree blaze red and gold. What she did not like however, was leaving things behind. And there was a definite sadness to stepping off the Hogwarts Express for the final time. 

Rose turned back to look at the rickety train with glassy eyes. She would not cry here, especially not in front of all these people. It was simply not in her nature. Besides, Rose had done all her crying in her dorm while reminiscing with her roomies-turned-best-friends. However, she did a lot more crying during the final days of the previous year while reminiscing with Teddy. It had felt so wrong when he graduated without her. 

Facing a whole year at Hogwarts without Teddy was perhaps the worst change Rose had endured. But that massive alteration to her life brought about lots of little changes, the best of which was currently holding her right hand.

“Don’t be sad,” he said, the trace of a smile in his voice.

Rose tore her gaze from the train and looked at him.

“I’m not,” she replied, more truth in her voice than even she had anticipated.

Because she was entirely ready to move on, a shame though it was to be leaving the castle behind. But it was the people and the magic that held her heart, not the cavernous halls and dark corridors. They were only good for emptying one’s thoughts; the lonely night time pathways which Rose had taken so much at the start of the year, but found herself treading less and less frequently as the days wore on. 

“Well that’s good,” he grinned and pushed some blond strands out of his grey eyes. 

Rose grinned back, because it was the easiest thing in the world. It was so easy to let her heart be light, to be reduced to a puddle of giggles like all the other girls in her dorm. All because a guy she liked looked at her with eyes that held everything she wanted. Less and less she found herself thinking of how Teddy would patronise her for it like he used to those girls. And as she stopped caring, she started to realise that it was none of his damn business. 

So contrary to what Rose expected, her days at Hogwarts were not spent mostly alone, grieving his absence. He was missed of course, but mingled with that was the feeling of something entirely new to her. She felt weightless, like she could breathe properly for the first time, and this was not sadness. 

It was freedom. 

And for all the commitment issues she thought she had, being trapped in the arms and heart of Scorpius Malfoy was the most free she had ever felt. 

The start of their relationship was silly and uncomplicated and awkward. Undeniably perfect. 

The worst part was when her friends began to ask if that meant Teddy was no longer in the picture. As if he was ever really in the picture in the first place. 

“I suppose I’d better go now,” Scorpius sighed eventually after a few more minutes of conversation.

“If you must. Enjoy Italy while I remain the eternal house hermit and consume the contents of my cupboard,” she replied.

“Oh I will. And if the ‘eternal house hermit’ is lucky, she might even get presents. Maybe. If I’m feeling generous,”

He muffled her laughter with a kiss before turning back to his family, leaving Rose beside the train still smiling. It was only after his tall frame and silvery mop of hair were lost among the thickets of people that she scanned the area. With his characteristic flame-red hair, it was only seconds before she saw the top of her Father’s head beside the barrier. And beside him surely would be her Mother and probably Hugo if he’d made it there before her, and of course Teddy, because he must have missed her too.

**

He wasn’t there.

Rose hid the surprise very well when she reached her parents and saw no hint of turquoise hair and a bright t-shirt. She even had enough self-control to not ask where he was. However, Hermione answered her unspoken question anyway.

“He’s with Victoire,” 

And Rose had pretended at nonchalance. I didn’t ask, she had said. Then Hermione would say that the weight of Rose’s “not asking” was too much to bear. Rose chose not to reply to this, and instead lugged her suitcase up to her bedroom, and began to slowly unpack. 

It took some sifting through her chaotic thoughts for Rose to realise that she was angry. For what however, she wasn’t quite sure. Angry at Teddy for not being there. Angry at herself because he may have never actually said he would be there, she had just assumed. Angry at herself for being angry.

Because he was with Victoire and not her.

Not that that was a problem as such. It had been quite some time since Rose had laid eyes on the green eyed monster and she had hoped she’d seen the back of it now. Teddy could see Victoire any time he damn well pleased. But did he really have to abandon her to do it? 

She picked the pocket sneakoscope out of her almost empty suitcase, intending to put it away. What she did instead was hurl it against the nearest wall so it smashed into pieces.

“Damn you, Teddy Lupin,” she hissed.

“What did I do?” came a quite rightly surprised voice from   
behind.

With a squeak of surprise, Rose whirled round to find Teddy leaning against the doorframe.

“Reparo,” he stated, pointing his wand at the plastic shards on the floor.

The sneakoscope reassembled itself while Rose gawped like a fish, searching for words. When she found none, Teddy was the one who filled in the silence.

“So how does it feel to have graduated? Ready to run off into the big, wide world kid?” he smiled, obviously missing the frown on her face.

His words reminded Rose why she was angry, so the best she could manage at first was a sullen greeting.

“So how’s Vic?” she said eventually.   
His face fell, almost imperceptibly, but like always, she saw it. 

“Look, Rose. I know I said I would meet you at the platform, but I just lost track of time. I know I’m a shitty friend who did the shitty thing of putting a woman before his best friend, but I am very sorry,” he said, and though it did nothing to make her feel better, he sounded sincere.

So he had promised, Rose thought, feeling slightly better that her anger wasn’t completely misplaced. Now however, she barely felt anger at all, just cold. 

Putting a woman before his best friend. Always the friend and never the woman to him. It didn’t matter anymore she supposed. Didn’t matter that he had never known how her stomach flipped, the reason why she went from best friend to following him round like a lost puppy. She doubted whether he’d even noticed the last one. 

He never held her heart in his hand, even though he had always been the one to wind it and make it tick.

“I know I promised,” he repeated, moving closer to her when several more minutes of silence spanned between them.

“I’d forgotten,” she lied, and he didn’t miss it.

“And I know I didn’t write,” he said calmly, taking another step towards her so they were barely an inch apart.

“I was so busy I barely noticed,” she whispered.

“If you say so,” he croaked, and closed the gap between them.

For the briefest of seconds, Rose watched Teddy’s face move towards hers and thought he was going to kiss her. When it became apparent he was in fact, moving in for a hug, she responded accordingly, a numbness setting in compared to the fleeting terror.

“I’m so sorry,” he said again. “You hate me,” 

Rose frowned, extracting herself from him.

“Actually I don’t. It bothered me at first, and then all of a sudden, it didn’t. I found to great effect that you can’t be disappointed when you don’t raise your expectations,” 

Her comment had the desired effect and he chewed his bottom lip, having the decency to look at the floor as almost visible waves of shame washed over him. Though she disguised it cleverly, he knew he had hurt her. And worse still it had reached a point where she now felt nothing at all.

Until she saw him that is, but he never needed to know that. 

She forgave him this time, but her patience had been worn out by him long ago. 

“Let’s get out of here,” he smiled. “I’m sure we have a lot of catching up to do,” 

She agreed, also smiling and took his arm so he could apparate them away. As always, after apparition, it took Rose a while to realise where they were, as the location had been in Teddy’s head, not hers. She stumbled when her feet met the unsteady surface of sand, and the breeze was considerably stronger than it had been back home. Her blue eyes took in the secluded beach, empty apart from them, and the beat of the waves against the shore in the fading light. Teddy was still holding her arm lightly, and when she turned to face him she was shocked to see his face was almost uncomfortably close to hers. She cleared her throat.

“Ted,” 

“Mhm,” he replied, still not turning away.

“Are we where I think we are?” she asked in barely above a whisper, their faces so close he could feel her breath on his cheek.

“If the beach is the place you are thinking of then you would be absolutely correct,” he smiled.

She turned away from him before her discomfort could eat her alive.

“But it's not just any beach is it though... Why this beach?” she frowned.

He let out a quiet laugh and finally let go of her.

“Because it has a history. I hoped it might cheer you up,” he added as an afterthought.

But Rose wasn’t listening. She was starting to put some distance between them as she walked towards the sea, treading on the sands of the beach that looked incredibly familiar to her and brought about one of her favourite memories. Teddy noticed the faraway look on her face and tried to bring her back.

“Rose,” he mumbled when he reached her.

She broke out of her reverie slightly, but still stared out to sea with glazed eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was just thinking,” 

And the faraway look came back to her face. 

“About what?” Teddy asked.

“Scorpius,” she said simply. “He did something similar to this once. Except it was in the room of requirement, and he asked it to look like this,” 

“That can’t be better than the real thing though,” Teddy tried to sound teasing, but was really just annoyed that somebody else had thought of this first.

“It’s not a competition,” Rose snapped, turning to look at him finally.

And Teddy smiled sadly, looking anywhere but the beautiful girl in front of him. Of course she hadn’t been thinking about him. He threw away the right to be in her thoughts. So in that sense, whether it was ever meant to be a competition, Scorpius had already won. Then Teddy just looked around him desperately, for silence enveloped them once more. There was a time when there was almost no such thing as a silent moment with Rose, and if ever there was, it was a comfortable one. Now it was awkward, and he felt a deep seated need to fill the quiet. But the problem was he didn’t know what with.

Casting around his troubled mind, Teddy was infuriated to find the only subject he could think of to broach was the one subject he really didn’t want to talk about.

“So, what’s going on with you and him anyway?” he asked, making every effort to sound nonchalant.

He would never know if she saw through it. She could never be certain there was anything to see.

“We’re together now,” she said, looking the happiest she had been all evening. 

Meanwhile Teddy struggled to smile with her.

“That’s great!” he said, and she studied his face, trying to find the chink in the armour. “Since when?”

“January,” she replied, her eyes downcast, the same smile still on her face.

It was a real and beautiful smile, and she wore it for someone else. Brushing a hand through his hair, Teddy sighed. As always, it seemed to him, he was the one freaking out while Rose remained calm. It was the exact opposite in her mind, but he never knew that either. So, just as anxious as he was, she began the next topic.

“You wanted a catch up and you’ve told me nothing about what’s been going on with you!” she exclaimed, grinning.

“You never asked,” stated Teddy, confused.

“I did. I asked how Vic was and you didn’t answer,” she punched him lightly in the arm. “So come on, lover boy, tell me how it’s going!”

It was now his turn to laugh his first real laugh of the night. 

“It’s going good. We’re not actually together yet, but I think I really like her, and I know she likes me too. I just really don’t know what to do,” he muttered, flopping down onto the sand.

Rose followed suit and lay down, her long, red hair fanning out behind her.

“Well,” she began. “When two people like each other very much they-,” 

“You’re such an ass,” he chuckled, throwing sand at her.  
She laughed as well.

“Well, what on Earth do you mean? Where is the sense in making something more complicated when it is so beautifully simple?” she inquired.

“I mean I’m not sure what I want,” he said, looking at his hands which were entangled on his lap.

Rose raised an eyebrow in question.

“Well I do really like her. I think, given the right amount of time, I could actually fall in love with her. And for the whole of this year I was so sure, but then you came back and I’m sitting here with you and it’s easy and feels so completely right.” 

Rose swallowed. It pained her to hear his voice crack with emotion at the last part. 

“Teddy,”

“No, Rose. Hear me out. I’m not saying I want you to leave Scorpius for me, or even that I want a relationship with you. It’s just that tonight might be going very differently if I’d just…” he trailed off and she laid a hand on his arm.

“Why do you do this to me, Ted?” she sighed, and he frowned to show his lack of understanding. 

Rose positioned herself in front of him and kissed his forehead, before tucking some of his orange fringe behind his ear.

“I love Scorpius. I am actually in love with him, and I do believe that such a feeling is not beyond you. What you are feeling right now… hell, how the bloody hell would I know what it is? I would say nostalgia but that would imply you ever felt something real for me in the first place. But you said it yourself. You don’t want me, so where is your confusion? You and Victoire are perfect for each other, and you know it,”

She stood up and stepped back from him.

“You don’t want me,” she repeated. “You’re just afraid. You’re thinking about running away again and I’m begging you not to because you do love her and she is so good for you. Don’t throw all that away because you can’t bear to be tied down,” 

Teddy nodded. Everything she said sounded logical, as usual. And as usual, she was probably right. 

This time, he would not run away.

And later, when she was back at home, Rose would reflect on Teddy’s arrival in her room and realise that for whatever reason, she had been correct.

He was going to kiss her.


End file.
